Everyone's Dead Before They Leave: A Tribute to the Cherubs

Everyone's Dead Before They Leave: A Tribute to the Cherubs (Unfortunate Miracle)

In just two years of active duty, local noise-rock trio Cherubs chiseled out a legacy that reverberates decades later. Released in 1994, Heroin Man remains the cinematic high water mark of Trance Syndicate Records' first stage. Now that guitarist Kevin Whitley, bassist Owen McMahon, and drummer Brent Prager are writing songs again, Everyone's Dead ... serves as a drool-flecked invitation for reacquaintance. Italian prog-noise hybrid Dead Elephant maintains fealty to the source with a cataclysmic take on "Stag Party," while Detroit's Beige Eagle Boys floor "Chanukka" into a wall of tribal drums, guttural guitars, and demented screams. Sitz Brau's techno/industrial reimagining of "Baby Huey" and Smooth Companion's dobro-driven "Orange Julius" both dispense with the template in an intriguing manner. Sweden's Light Screamer combines stoner rock and dark psychedelia on "Sugary" before the Christ Punchers take a full nine minutes to crash-land "The Big Groovy" somewhere on the other side of the mountain.